TV

Forced to flee! Why Jodi Gordon quit her Neighbours role and is moving back to Sydney

The actress is saying goodbye to her Melbourne-based gig for good just months after taking a break for "exhaustion".
Loading the player...

Neighbours star Jodi Gordon has sensationally quit her high-profile acting role, she revealed in an Instagram post.

The 34-year-old confirmed she was leaving the show in the post, where she shared a series of photos of herself and her castmates from the long-running soap.

Jodi with Neighbours co-stars Jackie Woodburne, Alan Fletcher and Bonnie Anderson.

(Image: Instagram)

In the caption, she said goodbye to the job she held for four years and explained she was looking forward to spending time with her five-year-old daughter, Aleeia, who she shares with ex-husband Braith Anasta.

“Farewell my Neighbours Family!! It’s been an incredible 4 years with you guys, everyone from crew to production, cleaners to chefs to cast … you make this show what it is and I’m incredibly grateful to have been part of it for so long,” she wrote in the lengthy caption.

“Now it’s time for me to move on to the next adventure. More importantly in the interim it’s time for me to move back to Sydney to be with my beautiful daughter, Aleeia.

WATCH: Jodi Gordon opens up about parenting. Story continues below…

Loading the player...

Jodi and Aleeia.

(Image: Instagram)

Her Neighbours gig wasn’t always a smooth ride.

(Image: Instagram)

During her stint on Neighbours, Jodi balanced her time between Melbourne, where the show is filmed, and Sydney, where Aleeia’s father Braith lives.

“She’s in Melbourne for majority of the week so she comes back and it’s been like that for a long time, it’s pretty stock standard,” Braith told Now To Love.

“We’ve got that balance. It’s pretty standard, we just make sure that Aleeia’s got routine and has as good an upbringing as we possibly can.”

Braith Anasta with Aleeia.

(Image: Instagram)

Her time on the show hasn’t been all smooth-sailing and friends previously told Woman’s Day how the troubled star had been struggling while “burning the candle at both ends” before needing a three-week break from the show.

“She’s really emotional and has walked off set crying a number of times just over little things and out of frustration,” confirmed one co-star, who said the cast and crew of Neighbours have been concerned about her wellbeing for weeks.

“She shows up exhausted after late-night partying and has been forgetting her lines. We’ve all been worried about her. I really do believe she’s going through a bit of a personal crisis at the moment.”

Network Ten confirmed her temporary departure at the time, with a spokesperson confirming. “Jodi is taking some time out to rest, we look forward to having her back on set soon,”

Her manager Sean Anderson said she was simply “exhausted”.

Last year Jodi took a three-week break from the show, citing exhaustion.

(Image: Instagram)

However, Jodi insisted to Sydney Confidential that her departure from Neighbours had nothing to do with that incident, telling the publication: “It is completely unrelated.”

She added: “At the moment I am feeling happier, healthier and better than ever and just excited about change, a fresh new opportunity or discovering something else.”

Related stories